Struggling to spend 13k with three dealers

If you really want them, don’t give up.  Sell the Klipsch on your own and remove from the equation.  You will save money and reduce a complication for the dealer.  Verdantaudio’s post is right on point.

However, do agree that many dealers are clueless about the products they sell or lazy or forgetful.  Hobby or not, I wonder if some dealers get into it without any real knowledge on how to run a business.

I live 3 hours from the Chicago dealer your talking about and couldn’t get him to respond either when I had interest in Wilson’s he had.  I ended buying from my local dealer with setup included.  Some of these dealers have deep pockets and big ego’s to go along with it so it’s a hit or miss when trying to buy expensive audio gear.  

Yah, weird though. The Chicago dealer constantly posts Wilsons on Audiogon- today he must have 8 ads at least for various models. Call him and try to buy a pair and he denigrates them immediately making you feel like an idiot for wanting to buy them. I really wonder if he has any in stock at all or it's a bait and switch move. Same thing when I then asked if a JL woofer would integrate well- "why would you want JL, it's too boomy" (def not the case with an F113 V2), have you tried REL? I'll never shop with him again (I did buy a couple of things from him a couple years ago). 

Sorry if I missed it, but who is the Chicago dealer you are talking about? If it is the one I am thinking of, good luck buying anything from him...It's a lost cause. There is a current ad for a Rea G1 sub offered for sale by him that has been rolling over for at least 3 years. I know as I tried to purchase it back in 2018. All of his ads roll over continuously whether he still has the item or not.

I guess that dealer doesn't care about sales. Find another one.

Some dealers will not take trade ins no matter what. A very highly respected guy local to me recently unloaded $225K of gear to a wholesaler after he got sick of it. He is very knowledgeable by not patient enough to deal with the used equipment complexities. He used to do it, but doesn't need to now.

Another guy is sitting on tons of stuff and will only take trades he knows he can sell and with him it is only on consignment. And he forgot to pay me once when he sold something of mine. Oops....never bought anything else from him.